Electrophysiological (EP) treatments involve procedures for addressing cardiac arrhythmias and related heart diseases. In general, EP heart treatments involve introducing one or more electrodes into the heart where a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure can be carried out. The electrodes are oftentimes attached to the tip of an EP catheter. The EP catheter can be used for procedures such as mapping of electrical activity and ablation. Ablation procedures involve use of powerful electrodes to intentionally damage small areas of cardiac tissue that cause arrhythmia or other heart disorders.
Maneuvering EP catheters into heart chambers can be complicated. The path that must be traversed is often complex. The catheters must be sufficiently flexible to maneuver through convoluted geometries, yet stiff enough to facilitate pushing and torquing of the catheter from a proximal location.
Once an EP catheter is in the general location of therapy, a positive contact must be made between the catheter and target heart tissue. Oftentimes, the EP catheter includes a preshaped tip optimized for the intended cardiac structure. After positioning the catheter within the target area, the shape of the distal end region of an EP catheter may not always be ideally suited to the task. In such an event, the catheter must often be removed and a different shaped catheter introduced, thus adding excess time and complication to the cardiac mapping or ablation procedure.
There is a need for an EP catheter that provides for easy maneuvering and in-place alteration of the catheter's distal end region. The present invention addresses these needs, as well as other deficiencies of prior art implementations and techniques.